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preserve

preserve

10 2.6
A sweet fruit spread you make by cooking fruit with sugar
  • noun
  • /prɪˈzɜrv/
translation icon : mermelada
  • So, uh, if you like, there's some very nice damson preserves.
  • jams and preserves
  • jellies and preserves

Examples

  • Hot scones with cream and apricot preserves have been cooked by her new maid.

    Fiction book (1998)
  • After your mother died, you ate one jar of her preserves every day until they were all gone.

    Fiction book (1993)
  • My husband and I made the preserves ourselves.

  • What are you going to do with those preserves?

  • I opened up a jar of your preserves.

  • Country jams and preserves are just to your left.

  • I brought some preserves from Aurora specially for you.

  • The women who found time to raise vegetables, make preserves, and bake bread may have done so with great enjoyment and satisfaction.

    Academic text (2014)
  • I make fig and mayhaw preserves and green tomato pickles.

    Fiction book (1990)
  • For breakfast, I spread raspberry preserve on my toast.

Synonyms

1 1.0

A sweet thick spread made from strawberries and sugar for bread or desserts

is the general cooked fruit spread used with many different fruits
preserves
vspreserve
2.3

A sweet spread you make by cooking fruit with sugar, often with pieces of fruit left

is the general cooked fruit food focused on preventing spoilage
conserve
vspreserve
  • UK
5.1

A sweet fruit spread made by cooking fruit with sugar

is the general cooked fruit food not limited to whole fruit pieces
conserves
vspreserve
  • UK
3.7

A sweet spread made by cooking large pieces of fruit with sugar

is the broader cooked fruit product that may use smaller pieces
confiture
vspreserve
9.6

A sweet spread made by cooking fruit with sugar to put on bread

is the common general term rather than a specifically French name

Antonyms

1 1.0

Food that is recently picked or made and not kept to last long

Compounds

A large park in Alaska with Mount Denali and animals like bears and moose

A large national park in Alaska with wild nature and old sites of Native people

A large national park in northern Alaska with very wild, remote land

A large park in southern Alaska with volcanoes, mountains, and many brown bears

An area of land where people hunt animals at certain times of the year

How Sweet

jam
76 1.0
preserve
10 2.6
compote
6 7.2

Surface Forms

preserve singular
preserves plural

Etymology

Preserve for a fruit spread comes from the verb that means 'to keep', using Latin pre- ('before') and servare ('to keep'). This name shows the fruit is cooked with sugar to be kept 'before' it spoils, so you can eat it later.